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Amy K. Stone, Ohio State University Extension, Lucas County; Joseph F. Boggs, James A. Chatfield, Mary Maloney, Erik A. Draper, Hannah Mathers, Pamela J. Bennett, Jane C. Martin, Marianne Riofrio, |
On October 2, 2001, Buckeye Blast migrated northward for the semiannual Plant Diagnostic Workshop. With all due respect to past speakers at this Workshop, the formal speakers for this time around were the strongest ever. They included:
One of the World's Top Scientists on Ice Cores and Global Warming
Lonnie Thompson, an Ohio State University glaciologist recently recognized by Time Magazine as one of the top scientists in the world for his work on the "archive" of past atmospheric environments in ice cores dating back over 420,000 years, discussed his research. This work is a major piece in the understanding of global warming.
Looking at air trapped in the ice cores, Thompson and associates have demonstrated the ever-increasing rise in carbon dioxide rates in recent years. Until industrialization, increases in carbon dioxide levels followed a predictable pattern of variability in which levels oscillated, for example, between periods of glaciation and volcanic activity, but never in the history of the cores higher than 300 parts per million (ppm).
With increased industrialization and release of greenhouse gases through burning of fossil fuels in recent decades, carbon dioxide levels in 1958 were at 315 ppm and by this year are pushing 370 ppm, with projections approaching 600 ppm in the year 2060. With the relationship of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels to increased temperatures, this archival ice core data is a crucial piece of data in the case for significant and potentially devastating global warming in the coming century.
Dr. Thompson also spoke of the rapid disappearance of current mountain glaciers around the world, at increasingly faster rates than normal. He left us with two quotes from the father of glaciology, Louis Agassiz: "Study nature and not books" and "Strive to interpret what really exists." insecticide recommendations available for disease prevention.